The 2024 Dodgers and Padres season opens in Seoul, South Korea on Wednesday.
On the opposite side of the globe, Major League Baseball’s 2024 regular season begins on Wednesday. The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres will play two games in Seoul, South Korea, to kick off the 2019 Major League Baseball season. These are games played during the regular season. They are not insignificant. Additionally, these are the first-ever MLB regular-season games held in South Korea. Since the Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners played two games in Tokyo, Japan in 2019, this is the first time MLB has started a new season overseas.
The Dodgers and Padres will play the first two games of their Seoul Series this week. Next week, on Thursday, March 28, the rest of the league will kick off the regular season with the customary Opening Day. Here is how to watch the first game of the Seoul Series.
Padres vs. Dodgers time, info
Date: Wednesday, March 20 | Time: 6:05 a.m. ET (3:05 a.m. PT)
TV channel: ESPN, SportsNet LA, Padres TV | Live stream: fubo (try for free)
Location: Gocheok Sky Dome (Seoul, South Korea)
Pitchers: RHP Tyler Glasnow (Dodgers) vs. RHP Yu Darvish (Padres)
Odds: LAD -190 | SD +158 | O/U: 8.5
Storylines
Dodgers: We’re entering the Shohei Ohtani era. Ohtani will not pitch this season while he recovers from elbow surgery that was done in September, but he will hit, and he has hit a lot this spring. Los Angeles handed him a record 10-year, $700 million contract during the winter (with significant deferrals). Three MVPs, Mookie Betts, Ohtani, and Freddie Freeman, will be at the top of manager Dave Roberts’ lineup.
That’s as hard as it gets for opposition pitchers. Additionally, on Thursday in Game 2 of the Seoul Series, Yoshinobu Yamamoto will make his MLB debut. With the Dodgers, Ohtani is the starting pitcher, but Yamamoto is the lesser player compared to any other squad. Yamamoto, the current three-time MVP in Japan, signed the largest pitching deal in baseball history this summer when Los Angeles offered him $325 million over 12 years. In Seoul this week, the Dodgers will unveil all of their new toys.
Padres: The team with the third-highest payroll in baseball finished 82-80 at the end of the previous season, making the postseason a major letdown. Though the Padres hope to contend in 2024, they have made some cuts to their expenditures this winter, most notably moving Juan Soto and his $31 million salary. With Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado, and Fernando Tatis Jr. at the center of their attack, they have a chance to secure a wild-card place.
Even without Betts, Ohtani, and Freeman, that’s a fairly solid core. Darvish and Joe Musgrove for San Diego will open the Seoul series. There is some instability in the rotation behind the two seasoned mainstays and the newly acquired Dylan Cease. The Padres’ ability to make the postseason or not will depend on pitchers like Pedro Avila, Jhony Brito, Randy Vázquez, and Michael King.
Prediction:
With credit, naturally, to a home hit by Ohtani, the Dodgers lead the Seoul Series opening behind Glasnow. His theatrical instincts are sharp. Dodgers 7, Padres 2.
